Ensuring security of data at rest and in transit continues to be a necessity. Implementing data security typically requires a high degree of investment in hardware, software, and the appropriate level of expertise to assess the security needs of the data that needs protection. Government or industry compliance standards may further increase the complexity and cost to implement data security.
There can be many different organizations that have different data protection requirements. Different organizations may include different divisions, projects and groups. Typically, each organization implements data security independently based on their needs. However, implementing independent solutions for each organization leads to a number of problems.
First, the differences in the security implementations inhibit flow of data securely between the different organizations. This is especially true if the flow of data occurs between organizations within a single corporation. Second, each implementation of data security may require expensive investment on the part of the organization. Third, varying implementations between the different organizations with varying level of expertise may lead to implementations that do not adhere to industry, national, and international standards and may expose the data to potential compromise.
Furthermore, some small merchants may not have the ability to access cryptographic services or other security solutions.
Embodiments of the invention address these and other problems.